I forgot to say it on my last update so I'll do it now; Thank you to everyone who took the time to write a quick review! I've said before that I wouldn't beg for reviews, but it is great when you get one! Warm feeling inside for me, brand new chapter for you. This could work...

Chapter Three

Elizabeth was sat behind her desk in her comfy office chair. The rippling colours cast by the gate were reflecting off the floor to ceiling glass window. She took a second to look down at the jumper, whispering, "Be safe." just as it shot through the stargate. The wormhole disengaged, the lack of it's presence making the gate room appear dark and gloomy for a moment as her eyes adjusted. Now she would have to wait and pray, the same as she always did when a team went out, that their return would be swift and without complication. She had hoped that by now she would have learned to control the worry and fear, and sometimes the guilt, but she'd decided that it wouldn't be right if she didn't feel these things when the men and women she was responsible for where out in the unknown. Taking a deep cleansing breath, she gave her full attention to the laptop in front of her, as was her way, she would bury herself in work until the team in question came home.

Before she could even turn the computer on, a great shout came from the control room. It was Dr. Zelenka. "Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard is in big trouble!"

What? He hadn't even been gone two minutes, what could he have possibly done already? Something in the doctor's voice told her he really meant big trouble so she didn't hesitate, getting up and rushing through to Zelenka's work station.The smaller man looked as though he had been slapped across the face, the way he sat there, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

"What's happened Doctor?" If John and his team were indeed in trouble, she didn't have time to beat around the bush.

"I'll show you, here." He swivelled the monitor round so she could see it, "This is the recordings from the MALP camera as Colonel Sheppard's team went through."

Elizabeth watched in stunned silence, but didn't flinch when she saw the feet jutting out from under the gate, although her insides churned as the man's fate was revealed. Morbidly she wondered if the man knew what was happening to him, if the weight of the stargate bearing down him hurt, if he felt anything the moment his life was extinguished. She had to tell herself he wouldn't, that any receptacle of pain had been dematerialised the second the event horizon touched him. Hopefully he hadn't even seen it coming, but the impossible image of the trapped man screaming out for help unable to do a thing to free himself began to gnaw at the back of her eyeballs.

The recording had come to an end and Dr. Zelenka was quietly looking to her for some direction as to what to do next. She lowered her head so she could see her hands braced around the edge of the table, her arms ridged, supporting her slight weight, seeking an answer to his unasked questions. There was only one thing she could do, so steeling herself she gave the order. "Dial the gate."

This was what he had expected, but he felt obliged to warn her, "But Dr. Weir, what if the crowd has gathered around the gate again? We may risk injuring someone else if they are too close."

"I don't think they've gone back to the gate. Did you not see a few of them off to theside of the screen? They had started off in the direction of the jumper."

Zelenka ran the recording again and sure enough she was right. She certainly had a keen eye, this was his third run through and he only just caught the angry looks on the faces of a group of men and just as she said, they were moving away to where a likely landing spot for the jumper could be.

"Besides," she added, "anyone close enough to be caught in the vortex would either have to be standing within the gate or hanging over it and after what they've just witnessed, they'd have to be pretty stupid to do that."

He didn't need to be told twice, so began the dialling sequence.

John's vision flashed then cleared as the world was rebuilt around him. The first thing he saw was the crossbar directly in their path, he pulled the controls hard to avoid hitting it. The ship swerved, narrowly missing it. Just as he was about to ask why they thought it was a good idea to put a road block right in front of the stargate, the sight out the view screen confused the question right out of his mind. They were flying parallel with the ground, but the ship was rotated so that it was now turned onto its side, nearly upside down. Huh? How had he managed that? He knew he'd pulled the controls hard to get out the way but how had they ended up this way? He corrected the angle of the ship then decided to gain some altitude so to get a better idea of what was going on. Quickly he threw a look at the rest of his team, Teyla and Ronon had seen what had happened and were now sitting forward in their chairs to get a better look. Rodney however was muttering quietly to himself, brushing the remnants the sandwich he'd dropped, out of his lap and onto the floor, completely unaware of their near miss.

It was Teyla that brought his attention back to the world outside, "Colonel, I think our arrival has upset these people."

"No kidding." John could see them running wildly in all directions. He circled the Jumper over the area and now the gate lying flat on the ground was visible from their position. The images they'd seen yesterday from the MALP of what looked like a construction site came back to him, sliding together with what they could see now and left him with a terrible sinking feeling in his gut. "I think we did a little more than scare them. Look at the gate. That bar we nearly hit was part of the crane."

"Do you think they were in the process of moving the stargate when we came through?"

He looked over to Teyla, worry etched on his face, but didn't answer her question. "I'm going to put us down. Assess the situation. If we've broken something, we should see if we can lend a hand." The small nod he got from each of them said they agreed, even Rodney was now aware of what was going on, his eager nods adding to the consensus.

They had touched down just behind where the gate should be standing, clear from where any of the people where gathering. Cloaking the jumper as they got out and started to make their way back towards the gate. As they walked several of the locals began to flank them on each side, providing a silent escort.

Ronon's instincts to either reposition themselves so they wouldn't be surrounded or even better, remove the threat altogether, made his fingers twitch in the direction of where his blaster was holstered. "Sheppard." He growled.

"I know Ronon, but they're unarmed, well except for a couple of shovels and a pick ax here and there. We're not going to start shooting everyone. Let's just see what the damage is first and we'll take it from there."

As they continued, John watched Teyla try to engage one of the men in conversation, but his angry scowl looked right through her. They'd definitely done more than damage some of their equipment. All John could hope for was that no one was seriously injured.

John and the others came to a mutual halt with their angry hosts on one side of the grounded stargate, while what looked like the rest of the workmen headed by who John thought was their foreman, on the other side.

He figured he might as well be the one to go first, as the locals remained outraged but for the most part silent. "Hi there, I'm Colonel John Sheppard, this is my team, Ronon, Teyla and McKay." He indicated to each of them respectively. The locals still said nothing so he continued, "Look, I'm sorry if we scared you when we came through, but we'll be happy to help repair your equipment." He gestured to the severed ropes that were a part of the pulley system he could see now they were closer. Scanning the area he didn't see anyone who appeared to be hurt. "We really are sorry 'bout all this. If anyone was hurt we can provide medical..."

The foreman finally found his tongue, interrupting John, "Oh no, nobody was hurt"

This should have come as a relief to John, but the way the man had put emphasis on the last word, made him feel worse.

"Because of you... you have...you..." His words consumed by his anger, he turned away from the strangers in front of him momentarily as he composed himself. Turning back with renewed calm, he looked John straight in the eye and spoke in a voice so low it was more like a clap of thunder than anything else. "Because of you, three of our people, one of which was my sister's husband, were killed when the Ring fell."

McKay's mouth hung open and his eyes flared to the size of saucers at the man's words. This was just supposed to be a easy recon mission, no bad guys, no trouble, no death. Especially no killing of the people they just met. And then it hit him. This was his fault, the men who had died would still be alive if he had been on time this morning. They had died for the sake of a sandwich and a cup of coffee. John was right, he should have packed the things he needed last night, and if he hadn't stopped by the commissary that second time, they would have arrived here before the gate had been lifted. He couldn't bare to meet the eyes of the men before them and see the loss that lingered there, so he stood unmoving, focusing instead on his boots. John was the next was to speak, his voice intoned with genuine sorrow and regret.

"We are really sorry about what happened here. The loss of your friend's lives... We never meant to hurt anyone. We only came here to meet you guys, to offer our friendship and maybe the chance to make trade with you. It was never our intension to kill anyone."

The foreman looked at John a long moment, assessing if his words were true. Just when John thought he was about say something the lights of the gate flashed on accompanied by the groan of power.

John only had a second to yell before the gate engaged, "Everyone get back."

A couple of the locals fell to the ground in surprise as the vortex shot up, reminding John of one of those show fountains that make the water dance to classical music. Once it had settled into a complacent puddle within the ring, the radio on John's shoulder crackled to life.

"Colonel Sheppard, this is Weir, do you read?"

"Where does the voice come from?" The foreman was shouting over the murmurings of the men around them.

John and the others could see the workers inching forward, they were well and truly surrounded now and as they backed away, the amount of space between them and the active stargate was reducing, fast. Even if they wanted to there was no place to run and too many to fight off.

John faced the foreman and slowly took the radio from his vest, clicking the button so anything that was said could be heard back at Atlantis. "This device is called a radio, it allows us to communicate with each other across a distance."

"Between worlds?" The foreman's curiosity had momentarily quelled his anger, but not for long. Before John had the chance to reply he spoke again. "In that case, take this chance to inform your people that you will be taken before the Council and put on trial for the murder of our men. Also, if you are so foolish as to send anyone else through the Ring at this time we will consider it an act of aggression and not hesitate to take our retribution now, in the form of your lives."

"You hear that Elizabeth?"

"Yes."

"Well it looks as though we're be here a little longer than planned. Do as he says for now, we can't solve this here without any more blood shed. It's possible the people in charge will let us resolve this once we go down to the town, and I'd like to do this if we can without adding to the death toll." He looked around at the angry faces, "Especially when we're at the top of the list."

"John, I'm all for not getting anyone else killed, but I'd like very much for you all to get back here before all hell breaks loose."

"Me too, but we won't last long if we start shooting now, they'd be all over us in seconds. As much as I hate the idea, at least this way we have a chance to leave in one piece."

"You're sure?"

Silently asking his team's opinion, looking to each of them, he made his decision. "I'm sure." Ronon's eyes rolled to the back of his head at this, obviously wanting to take the chance at fighting his way out, but the others had indicated otherwise, he was right to wait this out. He spoke into the radio again, "Do what you can from your end, but don't send anyone else in until its safe to do so."